Shooting Martial Arts--Tips anyone?

[ErikT72]

Hello all,

I have been asked to photograph an outdoor martial arts demonstration for a friend a couple of weeks from now. Her son will be participating and she really wants some good shots of him doing his thing...

I am pretty new to photography in general, let alone martial arts. Funny how the mere purchase of a DSLR and a few lenses has transformed me into some sort of expert in the eyes of my friends and family...

Anyway, I have a Rebel XTi and a Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 HSM that I suspect would be suitable for this. However, I would appreciate any feedback or tips that may help me get good results. I realize that Mother Nature will dictate the lighting, and I think I will be able to get close to the elevated stage. Any tips/suggestions/pitfalls to look out for would be greatly appreciated as I only get one crack at this!
thanks in advance,
Erik

[milleker]

Stay further away from the demonstration area than the longest weapon will reach.. :)

Pick a vantage point with a simplified background. Figure on using a large aperture that will help you stop motion and it will have a blurring background effect as well. A large crowd of people may make quite an interesting background if they're blurred out. Don't be afraid to look high and low for a good place to shoot from. Get a handful of great shots before you go walking around to other spots you may have discovered when looking for shooting points.

Beware the white outfits in the sun, holy overblown whites batman! Use a gray card and expose off of that in the same lighting as your subject (the sun) or use your exposure compensation to compensate for two or more stops to allow you to capture the white outfits. Unless you are faced with different lighting situations (sun, clouds, sun, clouds) get yourself a good exposure and keep it there. Expose a shot using Aperture Priority at full open or a stop below full open and take note of the settings, go into Manual mode and set the same settings. They'll be the same as long as the lighting stays the same. If lighting changes, go back to Aperture Priority and set it again.

Thats all I can think of right now, give you self some room in the viewfinder because these kids can get to whipping around and out of frame pretty quickly. Another idea, don't shoot from TOO far down. Let the angle and the background help dictate what height you ultimately shoot from.

Lastly, research! Look at photo galleries for these types of demonstrations. Don't be afraid to copy tried and true photos for now and adjust for your style later.

Good luck, be sure to come back and share some shots when its is over!

[HoRnYTuRbO]

go watch him practice and find out his routine so you'll know where to stand for the best action shots

[ErikT72]

Thank you for the advice, it is greatly appreciated!
--Erik